Some of today's topics will include, but are not limited too: TiVo, grocery shopping online, beards, and a new feature: How Stuff Works Monday.
Let's dive right in!
TiVo. What comes to mind when you hear that? For me, all that I thought of was the ability to pause live tv and record tv shows. I thought it was pretty cool but I never thought that I would get it. If you're thinking of getting TiVo, then just get it, because you'll never know how cool it is until you try it yourself. It is really, really cool! It's great to just tell it to record any show you want, then watch it later and even burn it to a DVD with one model.
Instead of just having it record one show, you can record the whole season of that particular show and even excluded the reruns if you want. It's just great! When there's nothing good on tv, just see what you recorded earlier and bam! You're watching great shows that you had it record earlier! We got the 40hr TiVo and I think that's a good amount of space, but I guess we'll have to see. We are all still pretty fresh to the whole thing, but it's fun learning it.
I would love to have TiVo in my dorm room, except for the fact that almost all of our channels are really staticky/fuzzy and it wouldn't be worth it to record because you can barely watch it to begin with. But this way Cassidy and I could record "Lost" and watch it whenever and rewind it and slow mo it to see all the hidden stuff and what not. If we had TiVo, then our room would officially be the coolest room in all the dorm if not the campus! We already have the home entertainment center...
So if anyone would like to contribute to the "Get Mike TiVo for His Dorm Room" Fund, please follow the link above and donate, thanks! (For those of you that don't get it, it's not a link, there is no fund.)
Well, let's move on to our next topic: Online grocery shopping!
I was reading the newspaper this morning and noticed that a new thing that's getting bigger is online grocery shopping. They said the store with the biggest corner on the market is Acme (I think that's what it said). Here is a link to their online store. It's only currently available in some of NJ and PA I think, but check it out!
I'm sure it saves a good amount of time, but I have never tried it. Maybe I'm just overly hopeful, but if I have any readers that have tried this, please leave a comment. I'd like to know if it's worth it, is it easy, is it a waste of time...?
Ok! Time for a time waster! Here is just a site I found that amuses me. They sell hairnets and beardnets! Yep, check it out!
That is one of the coolest things I have ever seen! I may need one of those someday if my beard grows long enough!
For our first installment of "How Stuff Works" Monday (and any other day I feel like posting it), we will take a good look at laughter. All of my information is taken from HowStuffWorks.com. They have vast amounts of research that enable you to see how tons of things work. It's a great site! I just pick some stuff that interests me and hopefully you too.
Let's start off with a joke:
Bill Gates and the president of General Motors have met for lunch, and Bill is going on and on about computer technology. "If automotive technology had kept pace with computer technology over the past few decades, you would now be driving a V-32 instead of a V-8, and it would have a top speed of 10,000 miles per hour," says Gates. "Or, you could have an economy car that weighs 30 pounds and gets a thousand miles to a gallon of gas. In either case, the sticker price of a new car would be less than $50. Why haven't you guys kept up?"
The president of GM smiles and says, "Because the federal government won't let us build cars that crash four times a day."
I love that joke!
Why is that funny (or not funny, as the case may be)? Human beings love to laugh, and the average adult laughs 17 times a day. Humans love to laugh so much that there are actually industries built around laughter. Jokes, sitcoms and comedians are all designed to get us laughing, because laughing feels good. For us it seems so natural, but the funny thing is that humans are one of the only species that laughs. Laughter is actually a complex response that involves many of the same skills used in solving problems.
First of all, laughter is not the same as humor. Laughter is the physiological response to humor. Laughter consists of two parts -- a set of gestures and the production of a sound. When we laugh, the brain pressures us to conduct both those activities simultaneously. When we laugh heartily, changes occur in many parts of the body, even the arm, leg and trunk muscles.
Under certain conditions, our bodies perform what the Encyclopedia Britannica describes as "rhythmic, vocalized, expiratory and involuntary actions" -- better known as laughter. Fifteen facial muscles contract and stimulation of the zygomatic major muscle (the main lifting mechanism of your upper lip) occurs. Meanwhile, the respiratory system is upset by the epiglottis half-closing the larynx, so that air intake occurs irregularly, making you gasp. In extreme circumstances, the tear ducts are activated, so that while the mouth is opening and closing and the struggle for oxygen intake continues, the face becomes moist and often red (or purple). The noises that usually accompany this bizarre behavior range from sedate giggles to boisterous guffaws.
Many researchers believe that the purpose of laughter is related to making and strengthening human connections. "Laughter occurs when people are comfortable with one another, when they feel open and free. And the more laughter [there is], the more bonding [occurs] within the group," says cultural anthropologist Mahadev Apte. This feedback "loop" of bonding-laughter-more bonding, combined with the common desire not to be singled out from the group, may be another reason why laughter is often contagious.
What's Funny?
Laughter is triggered when we find something humorous. There are three traditional theories about what we find humorous:
- The incongruity theory suggests that humor arises when logic and familiarity are replaced by things that don't normally go together. Researcher Thomas Veatch says a joke becomes funny when we expect one outcome and another happens. When a joke begins, our minds and bodies are already anticipating what's going to happen and how it's going to end. That anticipation takes the form of logical thought intertwined with emotion and is influenced by our past experiences and our thought processes. When the joke goes in an unexpected direction, our thoughts and emotions suddenly have to switch gears. We now have new emotions, backing up a different line of thought. In other words, we experience two sets of incompatible thoughts and emotions simultaneously. We experience this incongruity between the different parts of the joke as humorous.
- The superiority theory comes into play when we laugh at jokes that focus on someone else's mistakes, stupidity or misfortune. We feel superior to this person, experience a certain detachment from the situation and so are able to laugh at it.
- The relief theory is the basis for a device movie-makers have used effectively for a long time. In action films or thrillers where tension is high, the director uses comic relief at just the right times. He builds up the tension or suspense as much as possible and then breaks it down slightly with a side comment, enabling the viewer to relieve himself of pent-up emotion, just so the movie can build it up again! Similarly, an actual story or situation creates tension within us. As we try to cope with two sets of emotions and thoughts, we need a release and laughter is the way of cleansing our system of the built-up tension and incongruity. (According to Dr. Lisa Rosenberg, humor, especially dark humor, can help workers cope with stressful situations. "The act of producing humor, of making a joke, gives us a mental break and increases our objectivity in the face of overwhelming stress," she says.)
To summarize things, we laugh because it's a response to a situation which may be between close friends to show intimacy or not and involves moving the throat and the brain thinking something and electrical something or other, so... Well, I never said it would be easy to understand! Maybe I'll pick something next time that I can summarize easier!
So I think I'm just going to wrap things up with a little Podcast explanation. It has come to my understanding that there are many people out there who still don't know what podcasting is. Although, most of of those people don't own iPods and therefore probably wouldn't know anyway. I'll give a brief explanation.
A podcast is a lot like this blog I have here. You read it. The podcast is a blog that is read to you! You just subscribe to the podcasts that you like and like TiVo, you only listen to the shows you want to.
To record a podcast:
1. Plug a USB headset with a microphone into your computer.
2. Install an MP3 recorder for Windows, Mac or Linux.
3. Create an audio file by making a recording (you can talk, sing or record music) and saving it as an MP3 file.
4. Finally, upload the MP3 audio file to one of the podcasting sites. (FeedForAll has a tutorial on how to upload a file.)
To listen to a podcast:
1. Go to a podcasting site and download the free software.
2. Click on the hyperlink for each podcast you want. You can listen right away on your computer (both Windows and Mac support podcasting) or download the podcast to your MP3 player.
3. You can also subscribe to one or more RSS feeds. Your podcasting software will check the RSS feeds regularly and automatically pull content that matches your playlist. When you dock your MP3 player to your computer, it automatically updates with the latest content.
So in the end, think of it like this. It's a radio show that can be played on your MP3 player and anyone can do it with just basic materials. There are even video podcasts that you can watch the show instead of just listening. iTunes has a large amount of podcasts available and a growing list of video podcasts. Be sure to check them out and it's really easy to subscribe to podcasts if you have an iPod.
My shout out to iTunes:
The iTunes Podcast Directory features thousands of free podcasts — radio-style shows you subscribe to — including favorites from such big names as ABC News, Adam Curry, ESPN, KCRW, WGBH and many more. Browse and subscribe to podcasts, then sync them to your iPod and listen anywhere. Thanks to new video support, even video podcasts sync to go. And all your podcasts appear in their own menus under Music and Videos, so you can navigate them easily.
Podcast links:
- How Stuff Works.com Podcasting
- Podcasting @ Wikipedia
- Tree House Concepts
*Tree House Concepts - I haven't searched entire site, not sure of content, good podcast info, but if there's anything offensive, sorry!
***News Flash*** This just in!
Topics to be seein in a upcoming post:
- Dorm room dream re-modeling
- My own video podcast (?)
- Real life planning (where will I live, cell phone service, car)...
Thanks for stopping by!
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